Born Again

When Nicodemus first heard the words, "born again," they were new and profound. But when we hear those words today, we don't hear what he heard. In fact, we can't hear what he heard. The words "born again" mean more than just something symbolic. When I hear those words, the tune for "old time religion" starts running through my head. I can't help but think about small-town, ignorant old religious folk hopping on the right-wing bandwagon; "that there guvners born-again, yessir." I sometimes use the words, but I'm occasionally a little uncomfortable. (The words are overly associated with Christianists, and under-associated with Christ.) (Oh kind of like the church.)

So when I read the passage, I realize I've got my work cut out to get past all the stuff that skews my Scripto-Vision (?). I'm taking an online Moody class on John's gospel. It's challenging enough by itself, but these in-built misperceptions don't make it any easier to really get what Jesus is trying to say sometimes. It may have been obvious to the original readers, but generation after generation of fuzzy thinkers has done a lot to confuse things. The meanings are there, but sometimes it's just going to take some work and patience. Here's to life-long learning.